Leeds Brownlee Centre to mark International Women's Day with inaugural female only 5K race

IWD 5K is being staged on Sunday, March 8, and will raise funds and awareness for two charities, the Gift Wellness Foundation, which is tackling period poverty in the UK and abroad, and the Forgotten Women’s Safe Toilets project.

The not-for-profit race, which is open to women and girls of all ages and abilities, is being organised by an all-female team including members of the South Leeds Sisters and the Women’s Equality Party.

The event is the brainchild of Lynn Taylor, founder and director of Keighley-based RaceBest, a ticketing platform for endurance sports.

Lynn, who founded RaceBest with her husband Martin in 2013, was inspired to establish a female-only race after noticing that certain races were less popular with women than men. She believes that some women can be intimidated by the competitive atmosphere and wanted to create a race where females feel more comfortable and that is purely for them.

She has chosen to support the Gift Wellness Foundation, which donates sanitary pads to women in crisis, and Forgotten Women’s Safe Toilets cause, as periods and lack of toilet facilities on race day can affect female runners and their performance.

Lynn said: “I have launched the IWD 5K primarily, as I want more females to lace up their trainers and run and have the chance to run together without fear of embarrassment or intimidation. But it also offers us an opportunity to try and address the need for safe and secure toilets for women all around the world and to do our bit to tackle period poverty by partnering with two incredible charities.

"Most runners are familiar with the long toilet queues at running events, but in some countries using the toilet can become a matter of life and death for women and children. This event will help to make a genuine difference and will be a fitting way to celebrate International Women’s Day here in Leeds."

Funds raised for the Gift Wellness Foundation will help make sanitary protection available for more women and girls. And just 50 entries to the race will buy a safe toilet for women and children in desperate need of female-only facilities in poor communities abroad and will also provide 31 women with non-toxic sanitary pads for six months. I’d love to see lots of families and friends turn out for this inaugural event and help to make it a regular addition to the annual race calendar.”

Founder and chair of the Gift Wellness Foundation, Dr Zareen Roohi Ahmed added; “We’re so grateful to Lynn and the team for organising this fantastic event which will help so many women who can’t access or afford essential sanitary products. We’ve donated over five million sanitary pads so far, to homeless and refugee women, foodbanks and students.

"When you give a pound to a homeless woman on the street, have you ever thought about the fact that she may have to choose whether to buy food or sanitary products with your donation?"

The one mile fun run, which is open to girls and women of all ages will commence at 3pm and the IWD 5K (for ages 11 plus) will start at 3.30pm on the enclosed, Brownlee cycle circuit at Bodington playing fields in Adel.

Entry ranges from £5 per person for the fun run, £10 for affiliated runners and £12 for unaffiliated runners with proceeds being split between the two charities.

For further information and to enter visit: racebest.com/races/iw5k